An Apology to Think About, White Boys

An Underdog Strikes Back

Bite Your Lips & Think!

At the beginning of this month I read a column in the Globe and Mail that made me feel ashamed to be White. It was a sarcastic but right on the nose comparison of Native American Culture and Values to that of my White Culture and its lack of Values and  its incessant Greed of historical note.

It really made me think and that is why I am reprinting it here. I don’t think it got enough notice and it is something that I think all my friends and contacts should read. It’s a view from another perspective that needs to be seen and hopefully considered important enough to try to understand.

It was written by Drew Hayden Taylor: a playwright and filmmaker who lives on the Curve Lake First Nation in Central Ontario. And he has earned my admiration with this work.
His article was in the Globe and Mail on Saturday, Jun. 30 2012 as

White people, here’s your one-time Canada Day special:

Native people apologize back!

Canada Day has always been a mixed bag for Canada’s native people. It makes us think of many things: patriotism, flags, sunburned cottagers, barbeques and exploding fireworks. That’s the good stuff.
For some, though, it’s a reminder that it was four years ago when Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized to the first nations, Inuit and Métis inhabitants of this country for the imposition and effects of the infamous residential-school system.
Since then, much has been said and written about that apology: Did it go far enough? Too little too late? What’s next? That is something I am afraid only educated, wealthy white men in positions of power can decide.
However, some in the native community feel that perhaps we are being a little lax in not issuing an apology of our own.
We are not without some culpability. In the centuries that have passed since that fateful day of contact, we ourselves have been negligent and irresponsible in not acknowledging our liability in many regretful incidents and events in the past.
So in the spirit of cooperation, I would like to offer up these apologies to the people of Canada on behalf of the NAFNIP (native/aboriginal/first nations/indigenous people):
We hereby apologize for being so inconsiderate as to occupy land that, one day, your people would want. Even though we did not have a postal system or an Internet, this was an inexcusable oversight. We hope you are enjoying it.
We apologize for having so many politically correct and incorrect names for you to call us – everything from native to aboriginal to first nations to wagon burner to status-card number 48759375876-1.
In retrospect, to make things easier for you, we should have stayed in India, where we were originally thought to have come from. Unfortunately today it is really hard to get decent palak paneer on the reserve.
We hereby apologize for not understanding the subtle connections between God, children and sexual abuse. Some are still struggling with appreciating this association.
They are forgetting that, early in the Bible, it says, “Let there be white. And it was good.”
We apologize for wanting rights to minerals and other natural resources that exist beneath our feet. When you negotiated for our land, you meant to the Earth’s core.
We did not fully comprehend that when we were put on reserves where our rights to the land only went two or three feet below the surface.
Anything that falls down a sewer grate basically belongs to the Federal Government.
We apologize for being so concerned about the disappearances of so many native women.
We did not realize that the professional attitude of most law-enforcement agencies towards this issue was basically “out of sight, out of mind.” From now on, we’ll report any native women that go missing as white women with dark tans. That should speed up response time.
No need to thank us.
We hereby apologize for straining the Canadian health system due to our propensity towards diseases like diabetes. I know it has been said we put the word “die” in diabetes, but being introduced to all that Kraft Dinner and potato chips was definitely worth giving up the steady diet of salmon and deer.
I am sure the vegetarians are happy.
We apologize for launching so many land claims against the federal and provincial governments. One of our most ancient teachings tells us it is our sacred responsibility to make sure as many lawyers as possible are fed and looked after.
Where would they be without us?
We hereby apologize for wanting autonomy from the Federal bureaucracy of the DIA (Department of Indian Affairs). … Wait a minute, make that DIAND (Department of Indian and Northern Development). … Sorry, but I think it’s now called INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada). … No, I have just been informed the Ministry’s official name is now AANDC – short for Aboriginal Affairs Northern Development Canada. ... Now I forget what my original point was.
And though it had nothing to do with us, we are sorry for obvious reasons for the unique acronym of a once-testy office known as the Government of Ontario Native Affairs Directorate.
Finally, and perhaps most of all, we apologize for helping Canada/Great Britain win the War of 1812 against the Americans. There are many in the native community who feel Barack Obama would be a far more interesting leader than Mr. Harper.
But in our defence, who could have guessed?

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I don’t think I would have!

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy

Why the GOP Doesn’t Love Chris Christie

I think I Found a Ruby in the Rubbish Heap

An Honest Politician?

I got up early this morning and was just surfing the news when I happened on an article in the Daily Beast titled “Why the GOP Doesn’t Love Chris Christie”. I’d give you a link but its 3 lines long and not worth clicking on unless you like him. I’m a fan because he’s the only politician in North America who actually speaks his mind and backs it up with common sense reasoning.

The article has two main points that I thought were worth notice:

1.     Compromise and how you get there,

2.     Fat retirement benefits of our political Aristocracy.

It’s a reality that both our governments have fallen into gridlock and hostility: Canada because of Stephen Harper and his majority. He has the ability to ram shit down people’s throat with no explanation or justification. He loves to do so: a perfect example is the MMPR. We can’t get rid of him and he’s free to fuck up the country until the next election. Woe is us!
The U.S. has had the unfortunate experience of having government ranks corrupted by a handful of Tea Party assholes. Having been elected they are now free to fuck up the system until their next election. Woe is them!
Following I quote from that article:
 “We have to find ways to compromise with each other,” Christie said. “The place is so dysfunctional; they so don’t talk to each other, they so dislike each other that they can’t get to the common-sense point. I have said this all along with Jersey. I have argued all the time with the legislature. You heard me say a bunch of stuff about the Democrats in the legislature this morning. But I don’t have the luxury to hate. I have a job to do. You elected me to accomplish something, not just to occupy a space.
“I am not going to compromise my principles, because that is who I am, and that is why you elected me. But there is always a boulevard between getting everything you want and compromising your principles. There is always some space there, and the job of a governor or any executive is to find that space.”

Can you imagine it? Christie is honest, has principles and managed to get elected to a position of power. Fortunately for Stephen he didn’t have to overcome those obstacles: Lying is second nature to him and he has no idea what principles or decency is.

Also worthy of note is Christie’s assessment of his political peers. That group, the bureaucrats, were, in Christie’s telling, a bunch of greedy paper pushers lining their pockets with the public’s money, especially in retirement. I quote:

“If we are going to pay these folks these exorbitant sums of money, you should be able to give it to them personally. I think that when one of these guys retires, we should have a little party down at the town hall in Parsippany, for instance,” the governor said to guffaws from the crowd. “Every person who lives in Parsippany gets to come in with their check for their share of the money. It would be like the wedding line! You would go in and you would say to them, ‘Great service, congratulations. Here is my $120 for your sick time.’ And at least then you would get a thank you!”
If only that could happen up here: Maybe then someone like Bev Oda wouldn’t be able to screw up, resign under a cloud and then keep sucking the left hind tit of the public purse for the rest of her life. At $16 a glass she can afford to buy truckloads with her ill gotten gains. May she choke on it.
I wonder what revelations and opinion he’s going to come up with next?
Blaine

TheSmeeGoanGuy

Harper and his Conservative Fools Never Differ

Harper and his Conservative Fools Never Differ

Great Minds Think Alike

WE already knew THAT!

So What?

The man who wrote this went all out with his comments and I couldn't agree more. I have no idea who he was and the article is obviously plagiarized, but it tells it like it is and I think most of my readers will find themselves in complete agreement. If you do, I hereby grant you the right to join

F.R.O.G.S

Fraternal Order of Grizzled Sarcastics

I'm telling the crooked politicians the way it really is. Too many blind voters keep them in office!

I don't think pissed really covers it!

Harper's conservatives call senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared "Old Age Security " to a Milk Cow with 34 million teats.

Well, here's my response........

"Hey Stephen, let's get a few things straight!

1. As a career politician, you have been on the public dole (tit) for many, many years.

2. I have been paying taxes since I was 18 years old. I am now 63).

3. My Old Age Security payments, and those of millions of other Canadians, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning CanadianSocial Security into a Ponzi scheme that would make Bernie Madoff proud.

4. Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown, you and "your ilk" pulled the proverbial football away from millions of Canadian seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65 to age, 67. NOW, you and your "shill commission" are proposing to move the goalposts YET AGAIN.

5. I, and millions of other Canadians, have been paying into health care from day one, and now "you morons" propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because "you idiots" mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal our money from health care to pay the bills.

6. I, and millions of other Canadians, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again. Why? Because you "incompetent bastards" spent our money so profligately that you just kept on spending even after you ran out of money. Now, you come to the Canadian taxpayers and say you need more to pay off YOUR debt.

To add insult to injury, you label us "greedy" for calling "bullshit" to your incompetence. Well, Captain Bullshit, I have a few questions for YOU:

1. How much money have you earned from the Canadian taxpayers during your pathetic political career?

2. At what age will you retire from your pathetic political career, and how much will you receive in annual retirement benefits from the Canadian taxpayers?

3. How much do you pay for YOUR government provided health insurance?

4. What cuts in YOUR retirement and healthcare benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies?

It is you, Captain Bullshit, and your political co-conspirators called "The Harper Government" who are the "greedy" ones. It is you and your fellow nutcase thieves who have bankrupted Canada and stolen the dream of a decent retirement from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers: And for what? Votes and your job and retirement security at our expense, you lunk-headed, leech.

That's right, sir. You and yours have bankrupted Canada for the sole purpose of advancing your pathetic, political careers. You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it.

And you can take that to the bank, you miserable son of a bitch.  

Disregards:

No Friend of Yours